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Microsoft storefronts aren't yet as sweet a lure to customers as Apple

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles Los Angeles Times

Posted:
12/13/2010 01:00:00 AM MST

A technical adviser helps customers in the Mission Viejo, Calif., Microsoft store. The company also has a location in the Park Meadows Mall, but it may be slow to catch up with the retailing juggernaut that is Apple, with 300 stores worldwide.
(Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times
)

LOS ANGELES — It looks like an Apple Store, filled with eager employees in brightly colored T-shirts. Laptops, smartphones and MP3 players are arrayed on modern tables for anyone who wants to try them out.

There's even a desk in back where people can walk up and get expert technical help.

But the similarities between the Apple Store and the Microsoft Store — which also has a Park Meadows Mall location — begin to fade at the cash register, or at least they did one recent Saturday afternoon at a Mission Viejo, Calif., mall.

Over a half-hour period, 19 people walked out of the mall's Apple Store carrying purchases in one of the company's signature white bags. By comparison, just three walked out of the nearby Microsoft Store with merchandise.

The survey may not have been scientific, but it reflects what analysts say is the challenge Microsoft Corp. faces in taking on Apple Inc. in America's shopping centers.

"The Microsoft Stores, it seems so far, lack the same cool factor as the Apple Stores," said Phil Baker, an independent technology analyst and consultant in Solana Beach, Calif. "It's not entirely clear as to what the goal of the Microsoft Stores is, but it doesn't seem to be as much about sales as it is about building the brand."

Some shoppers are also scratching their heads.

John Smits of San Clemente, Calif., bought a laptop at the Mission Viejo store, lured by a discount. But he said the Microsoft Store lacked the exclusivity that draws consumers to the Apple Store.

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"Everything sold here can be bought somewhere else, likely for a lower price," Smits said. "There is no exclusive product here to pull me in. But at the Apple Store, there's all kinds of stuff I can't get anywhere else."

At Park Meadows in Lone Tree, the Microsoft Store wasn't as busy as Apple's, but customers were checking out computers and game consoles.

"I think they are definitely up for some competition against the Apple Store," said Bobby Hill, 22, of Highlands Ranch. He dropped in to check his Facebook account.